The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1887-08-27
.,,o regulate commerce with foreign na

duties upun imports, then alter ono" having
provided for liz regulation REPETITION VI
the grant would have been "A work Of super.
er,g ttiun-superiluou meaningless the
grant of the power ~ regulate commerce
prrsupp SEES commerce 10 regulate, and
IL cannot therefore, be IA authority a. pre-.
vent or destroy IL TG- grant OF power
Ia lay duties IN Imports likewise prrsup
poses i'm pDrtation, and II cannot, therefore,
In construed into IN authority % obstruct,
prevent or prohibit II, II being merely u
method provided by the CONSTITUTE N for
raising u revenue for certain specified pur
poses, among which Are not enumerated the
support If private interests or individuals
Coupled with the grant If power 10 impose
duties Is the declared object and purpose
for which the power shall be exercised
and this is equivalent 10 a prohibition that
the same shall be exercised for other and
different purposes. This Is one OF the
plainest and best recognized rules OF con.
stiuCtiOn, That where the grantor of q
power detines the object of the grant and
presCribes and hedges about its exercise, II
can be used for no other purpose than those
enumerated ia the grant itself much less
can IL be used 10 defeat the very object of
the grant. The declared object of duties
is federal revenue; the duty authorized,
therefore, Is one that Is cons stent with its
Objects one that will pay the debts and
provide for the common defense-is one
that will produce u revenue. But tariff
that prevents or prohibits importation, pre-.
vents the collection Of duty upon imports,
furbids the very act authorized by the IN
stitutiOn itself, defeats the object OF The
grant, is inconsistent with II, and therefore
unauthorized by 1t. A tariff for revenue
and revenue only, Is the only tariff cOntem.
plated by the Constitution, and the only
one that has any warrant or auth ority in ii.
BY the tariff of 1916, the nation aban.
doned tue principle of protection and
turned lbs face towards free trade. II not
only greatly reduced the average dut'able
rate, tut II cut up the fraudulent system OF
specific duties ROOT and branch II struck
| 4 Jwn the protective duties upon iron and
other favotites even more decidedly than
| upon glass. The ship of State was placed
again upon her free trade tack, and in the
words Of tae immortal Jefferson when in
| 1900 he accomplished a similar revolution,
"one showed 10y the grandeur OF her motion
the skill of her builders" The industries
At once felt the pulsatiOGs OF a liberated
relieved and vitallzed energy, and expand.
ed, as never before they had done upon
this or any other continent, In this or any
other age PruteCtiOnists then used every
argument against return to free trade that
can be urged today; and If there is any
merit in the system of protection they used
ii with even greater force than now, for If
a reason exists today against free trade that
then had not equal or greater force 1t is
proof conclusive that instead of protection
so cheapening production as to render us
industrially indepen lent of the world, that
it year by year reduces Us 10 industrial sub
lection, and forces us to build higher and
higher the Chinese wall against the inva-
sion of u still more cheaDened foreign pro.
duction, is proof conclusive that protection
has given Us the actual opposite of what il
promised.
1t gave US the opposite because it prom.
ised an impossibility. Protection was at
first demanded because wages were SO high
Ii was claimed American labor could NOT
be protitably employed in manufacturing,
In competition with cheap foreign goods |
But when once the infant industries were
established by protection, the promise was
to give TO labor higher wages and to the |
country chez per goods than could otherwise |
be obtained Aud this was to be secured |
at the cost Of short period of temporary
dearness occasioned by protection. Under
the mastery leadersh p of Henry Clay the
system Was inaugurated in 1924. In It's ad. |
vocacy he declared in Congress that from
four to six years of protection would be suf- |
ticient to establish the industries, and he
voiced the universal sentiment of protec-
ton, that In return therefor ii would give |
| IN la hiUhar IN "a mfr
cheaper goods. Now if it were true that |
the first Industries could not run because of
high wages and cheap goods, what must
have been the fate of the next, after pro,
lection by establishing the first, had gwen
TO labor still higher wages, and u the coun.
try still cheaper goods? All subsequent In.
dustries would find the difficulties Of the
first multiplied many fold to themselves
Ii the first could not run because of high
wages and cheap goods, how could another
start at all, as against still higher wages
and still cheaper goods? The reason as
signed for protection WAS false at first, or ii |
promised an impossibility in return for its
establishment
OF all tho calamities predicted, not one
followed the adoption of free trade in 1916
1t stopped the decline in wages that was
transporting under protection, and placed
the laborer again upon the rising tide. The
average wages paid in manufacturing
throughout the United States, rs shown by
the census in 1850, was 1913; in 1860,
S29S; in 1870, $500 Gn gold), and in 1880,
$3iG per annum. That is, In the ten years
OF free trade--from 1850 to 1S60--wages in
manufacturing increased 20 per cent, while
in the 20 years of protection--from 1860 to
lSSO-they increased but 10 per cent In
face of this record does 1t appear tat the
industries were driven into decline by the
tariff of 1862 The iron interests declared
that the merciless cut in the duty upon iron
would force every mill Ia America to close
down. Yet none We're forced to close be-
cause of the reduction and within twelve
month wages In the iron industries were
upon the advance for the first time in 90
years; and they continued to advance until
| 1850, when they were 80 per cent higher
than in 1916 And In agriculture wages
rose in that decade Of free trade over 80
per cent. Indeed, the advance of wages
in all the industries WAS gradual, healthy,
universal, as was also the Increase Of their
purchasing power. In his history OF
Wages and Prices" before quoted, Com
missioner Wright, himself protectionist,
says of wages during this period, on page